Sunday, August 7, 2011

So, I was told by a friend that I needed to update my blog with Emily's newest results.....so here I am!

Emily was invited to swim in the State Meet by her coach. The events she was invited to swim in were two relays, the 100 Freestyle and 100 IM (individual Medly....one lap of each stroke). She swims in the 10 and under events and is 9, so she is one of the youngest in her events. Going into this Meet she was very nervous. I think she really feels the pressure of being a good swimmer. She was having major troubles sleeping and didn't want to go to practices in the mornings. By thursday I had to do some "mommy work" and talk to her about her problems and how to help her. In the end she decided to give the last two practices her all and kicked some serious butt!

When we got to the pool on Saturday moning Emily was pretty darn nervous. She told me she was worried she would let people down if she didn't win. Well, she didn't disappoint at all!

The first medley relay ended up taking third place. I still think the coach should have re-thought who swam what stroke because I just don't feel he put them on their strongest stroke. For example...emily, this summer, has been horrible at backstroke. It just isn't her strong stroke, yet he had her lead the relay off with the backstroke and that put them behind right off the bat. Anyway....Bronze medal was good, but then someone got DQ'd so they ended up with silver. Not bad at all!

Next up was her 100 Free event. She was the top seeded time so she had a good start going in. She knew this and I think it settled her a bit. Anyway, she dove in and took off. She had the lead all four lengths until the last two strokes when she tired out. The girl next to her had a burst of speed and ended up taking the Gold from Emily by .02 secends!! Can you believe it? By .02 seconds!! Unbelievable!!!

Her third event was her best event...the 100 IM. She was up against her biggest rival this summer, a girl named Lauren. She has been trying to beat Lauren all summer and is looking forward to the girl aging up to the next age group in the fall. That means that Lauren is almost 11, basically a little over a year older then Emily. I set my recorder and in Emily dove to start her race. Emily's butterfly stroke is really good and so she kept up with Lauren for most of that length. Then come backstroke, which is NOT her strong stroke. That length put her about two body lengths behind Lauren. At this point there really is no one close to these two girls! When Lauren hits the wall to do Breaststroke something happens and she flubs the turn, which gave Emily a bit of a chance at catching her. While swimming the breaststroke lap Emily was closing the gap. This last week the coach had really worked on her breaststroke to make it stronger so I think part of that kicked in. When Lauren made her turn Emily took three more strokes, hit the wall, did her turn and TOOK OFF! She was moving so fast I couldn't believe it. She wanted that win so bad you could just see it in her stroke! She ended up passing Lauren half way down the last lap and won by a couple seconds!! Woooo hoooo!!!! I was going crazy. The only thing was, I was trying very hard to not go completely nutso since Laurens' whole family was sitting directly next to Jerry and me. I told them that was an amazing race and that Lauren did great and then we left the stands. I did a little victory dance in the stairway while no one was watching! :)

Emily's last relay took third and was a pretty fun race to watch as well!

Overall, Emily ended up with a Gold, two Silvers, and somehow a fourth place ribbon for the last relay (that they really got third in). She wore her medals to church today and really never took them off. Normally she doesn't care about the ribbons or medals but the State ones she does. Father Rick awknowledged her at the end of the service and had her stand up to show the congregation her medals. What a proud moment for her and for us as her parents! I felt it was appropriate as God most definately gave her the ability to swim like she can and the fighting spirit that lets her win so many races!!

I will add the links to her events on here. Feel free to watch and enjoy!! If you are down in the dumps and need a spirit lifted, watch her Gold Medal 100 IM video. Just make sure to turn your volume down, you dont' need to hear me screaming in your ears!! :)